Laura Kurella is an award-winning, self-syndicated food columnist, an award-winning Food Stylist, and the author of two cookbooks: Fabulous Desserts and Fabulous Tiny Bites and beverage. Her column, Vitality Cuisine, appears each Tuesday in the
...

Laura Kurella is an award-winning, self-syndicated food columnist, an award-winning Food Stylist, and the author of two cookbooks: Fabulous Desserts and Fabulous Tiny Bites and beverage. Her column, Vitality Cuisine, appears each Tuesday in the Sturgis Journal, and her Radio Recipe show can be heard Tuesday mornings at 7:15 am at WBETFM.com Questions or comments? Contact Laura at Laurakurella@yahoo.com.

QUIP: When we were kids, I doubt many of us were giving much thought to the bologna sandwiches we were munching on, but somewhere buried deep in our little minds was a tiny bologna sandwich recorder, busily noting every last detail of its individual flavors that combined to create what we would know as the classic, fried bologna sandwich.

What’s more, that this unbeknownst recorder would one day lead to arguments over what constitutes a fried bologna sandwich.

I didn’t know the bologna sandwich recorder existed until a recent “grown up” conversation with a girlfriend.

We were discussing what to have for dinner on a hot and miserable summer day. She said, “I hate cooking when it’s this hot out!” I replied. “Me too, which is why I am glad the kids just want fried bologna sandwiches for dinner.”

“Mmmm!” she said. “Sounds great, but I’m out of Miracle Whip.”

“Oh” I said. “We don’t use Miracle Whip they like mustard instead.”

“Mustard! Yuk!” she shrieked into the phone. “You never put mustard on a fried bologna sandwich, sautéed onions, yes. But mustard, never!”

My friend went on to describe, in absolute detail how to make a classic bologna sandwich, at least in her mind, that is.

When she finally finished I laughed at her and said, “Wow! I had no idea the guidelines for what constitutes a bologna sandwich were so strict – all the way down to what brand and thickness of bologna to use. I don’t mean to sound uncaring, but are we all so stuck on what constitutes a fried bologna sandwich that we are not flexible enough to even try another person’s version?”

I don’t think my remark was well received because my friend followed it with a very long, dead silence.

Amazingly, this is not a rare instance. Apparently most of us have those little fried bologna sandwich recorders in our minds and likewise, most of us prefer to cling to its original flavor, taste and crunch – or the lack thereof - much in the same way we cling to fond childhood memories. For that, I apologize for my earlier remark to my friend. It deserved the silent treatment, indeed!

TIP: The fried bologna sandwich argument is bigger than me and my friend. In fact, there are websites devoted to the sandwich and the subject of arguments about it.

Notably, there is friedbologna.org, which dedicates itself to the pure art of the fried bologna sandwich and other fried bologna delicacies.

So whether you are used to deli style, packaged, thin sliced, thick sliced or the stuff under $1.00, bologna has left an imprint on our minds forever. What kind of fried bologna sandwich makes you smile?